New Year’s Eve Drops The Ball
There is an old folk tale which has become known as “Stone Soup.” In this tale a group of starving wayfarers deceives an entire village into helping them make a delicious stew from only an iron pot and some riverbed stones. This old fable has been used in several different cultures to teach cooperation especially during times of scarcity. However, it also teaches us the more cynical lesson that if you systematically distract your audience’s attention with flash and pizzazz, there is a chance they will not even realize the soup they are eating has rocks in it.
Whether you love it or hate it, almost all of us can say that they have had the experience of watching the Times Square Ball drop. The recent film New Year’s Eve follows the lives of many New Yorkers as they intersect and intertwine with each other. One woman named Claire Morgan (Hilary Swank) has been charged with supervising the world famous ball drop. When an electrical short in the ball causes it to hang suspended over the crowds of revelers, Claire must solve this problem before the clock strikes midnight. Meanwhile, a woman named Laura (Katherine Heigl) caters a gig for the superstar musician Jensen (Jon Bon Jovi). She was deeply hurt last year because he left for a tour immediately after proposing to her. Still, she finds that she loves him. New Year’s Eve celebrates love, hope, forgiveness, second chances and fresh starts, in a web of stories told amidst the pulse and promise of New York City’s most dazzling night of the year.
Garry Marshall, the director responsible for Valentine’s Day, Runaway Bride and Pretty Woman gives us more of the same. This movie got a bad reception when it came out last year. The only difference is back then it went by the name of Valentine’s Day. The movie is a course in how a “Movie Mad-Libs” mentality flourishes in Hollywood. The script is prewritten for you. Simply insert 20 stars and you will have a profitable movie. The main problem is that the movie’s characters are badly underdeveloped. It is not possible to divide two hours of content into 10 different storylines and expect the characters to be profound or moving. By the time the film is over, you feel like you just met them because, in fact, you did. Most of the dialogue in this film is a deluge of dreck that is vapid, sappy and generally boring. You could easily find the same platitudes on the inside of a greeting card. When an undefined lay-about character played by Aston Kutcher is an acting highlight, it speaks volumes about the rest of the film. This rom-com was so jam packed with costars that all of them could never be listed in one review. A few included Robert DeNiro, Michelle Pfeiffer, Zac Efron, Sarah Jessica Parker and Halle Berry.
If you are looking for romantic comedy with an ensemble cast that is themed around a holiday do yourself a favor and rent “Love Actually.” You might actually get an enjoyable viewing experience out of it. When Matthew Broderick’s cameo is just a pretext to name his character “Buellerton,” it is time to ring in the New Year and call it a night. “Should auld acquaintance be forgot?” Who is to say? But by the time the ball really does drop, the acquaintances of this film will have long been forgotten. No matter how many stars Garry Marshall dumps into the gumbo of this film his viewers are still going to notice the giant stone sitting in their bowl.
Good review. I was pleasantly surprised that I actually enjoyed myself with this flick, even though I do feel like Garry Marshall didn’t really try to do anything with all of these stars instead of just have them show up and do something. Still, a fun film that is a crowd-pleaser for sure. Check out my review when you get the chance.